Always amused when I am told the proper way to celebrate the Holidays. Apparently I should be joyful but not too joyful...
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Tis the Season!
Always amused when I am told the proper way to celebrate the Holidays. Apparently I should be joyful but not too joyful...
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Miss Manners on allergies
This one applies to me.
"Dear Miss Manners:
How can I, a person with a number of food allergies, politely ask what is in an appetizer, meal, dessert, etc., in social situations?
I have tried the 'Oh, it looks delicious . . . what's in it?' approach; however, this does not always work. 'Trust me, you'll love it,' says a host eagerly waiting for me to take a nibble and agree.
As an advocate of discretion on the part of guests with food restrictions, Miss Manners has to admire your subtlety. She hates to admit that there is such a thing as being too subtle, but you seem to have achieved it.
The goal is to avoid undue demands on the host as well as medical emergencies, religious and ethical transgressions and, not least, excessive talk about food. Your host could have supposed that you were acting from mere culinary curiosity, which he is not obligated to satisfy.
The succinct response to 'Trust me . . . ' should have been a pleasant but firm 'Trust me, I do need to know. I'm allergic to . . . ' Followed, if necessary, by an equally pleasantly delivered, 'You really don't want me to spoil this lovely party by your having to call the rescue squad.'"
"Dear Miss Manners:
How can I, a person with a number of food allergies, politely ask what is in an appetizer, meal, dessert, etc., in social situations?
I have tried the 'Oh, it looks delicious . . . what's in it?' approach; however, this does not always work. 'Trust me, you'll love it,' says a host eagerly waiting for me to take a nibble and agree.
As an advocate of discretion on the part of guests with food restrictions, Miss Manners has to admire your subtlety. She hates to admit that there is such a thing as being too subtle, but you seem to have achieved it.
The goal is to avoid undue demands on the host as well as medical emergencies, religious and ethical transgressions and, not least, excessive talk about food. Your host could have supposed that you were acting from mere culinary curiosity, which he is not obligated to satisfy.
The succinct response to 'Trust me . . . ' should have been a pleasant but firm 'Trust me, I do need to know. I'm allergic to . . . ' Followed, if necessary, by an equally pleasantly delivered, 'You really don't want me to spoil this lovely party by your having to call the rescue squad.'"
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Salon.com - Daou Report
Salon.com - Daou Report:
Muslim congressman more dangerous than 9/11 hijackers? So says right-wing hatemonger Dennis Prager -
"In a recent Townhall article Conservative Talk Show Host and Columnist Dennis Prager states that Congressman-elect Keith Ellison (MN 5) should not be allowed to take the oath of office on the Koran because "he will be doing more damage to the unity of America and to the value system that has formed this country than the terrorists of 9-11." Besides playing on the racist fears of his readers by comparing taking the oath of office on the Koran to "a racist elected to Congress" being allowed to "choose Hitler's 'Mein Kampf,' the Nazis' Bible," Prager is completely wrong when he states that "all elected officials take their oaths of office with their hands on the very same book."
Monday, November 27, 2006
Video game makers are worse than dope dealers
A local columnist. All I can say is "AMEN BROTHER." I have had a read time trying to convince John that I am not being mean because we haven't been able to find a PS3 or a Nintendo Wii. Not that I was necessarily going to buy him one.
COMMENTARY: JOHN KELSO
These video game manufacturers ought to be taken out back and fed to the virtual hogs.
Last Sunday, my daughter, Rachel, 15, asked if we could go to Best Buy so she could check out a video game she loves called "Zelda."
"I just want to hold it," she said.
That sounded to me like a plea from a kid who really wants to own this game. So I suggested to my wife, Kay, and Rachel that we go to the store and just buy "Zelda."
Not that I understand the frenzy here. I'm so low-tech I can limbo under a gigabyte. I don't know "Zelda" from "Alice in Wonderland."
But I figure if a kid wants a $50 game bad enough to just "hold it," I could spring for that.
That's when I was told the game needed a $250 game system, something mysterious called a Wii.
Undaunted, I figured, what the heck, let's go for it. To make a kid happy, I can get out the checkbook.
So on Sunday afternoon, the three of us headed off to the store to buy "Zelda" and Wii, or so I thought.
We hit about half a dozen South Austin stores and couldn't find either the game or the system.
Seems like the miserable creeps at Nintendo, the video company that makes both the game and the system, had sent out just enough Wiis to create what is known as market interest.
When we left the house, Rachel was bubbly and happy. Heck, she even voluntarily cleaned her room, the biggest upset I'd seen since the Red Sox won the World Series.
But by the time we found out the Target on Ben White Boulevard had run out of Wiis, Rachel was in tears. I felt like a bag of ham.
They were out at Best Buy, too. The clerk told us that there was a guy lurking about the floor, offering to sell his Wii for $450 to distraught customers who couldn't find one. He suggested we track him down.
This attempt by the toy manufacturers to turn our children into emotional wrecks began in the '80s with the Cabbage Patch doll.
My idea of Cabbage Patch Doll aerobics would be to drag one behind a truck.
But American grandmothers didn't see it that way. Oh, no, the old birds loved this doll because their grandkids wanted one.
So the long gray line would form outside the store at 6 a.m. Then, when the doors sprung open at 7, these old women would beat each other over the head with their handbags to get their wrinkled fingers on a doll.
This tradition of rioting over polyurethane products continues today with video games. Last week, a man was shot while standing in line for a Sony PlayStation 3.
Sony ought to make an action game out of that: a bunch of cartoon shoppers in line waiting to buy toys while the bad guy on the screen guns them down for points.
Why can't you greedy buzzards at the game companies send out enough of your product to start with so we don't all go crazy? Or is that just too much to ask?
COMMENTARY: JOHN KELSO
These video game manufacturers ought to be taken out back and fed to the virtual hogs.
Last Sunday, my daughter, Rachel, 15, asked if we could go to Best Buy so she could check out a video game she loves called "Zelda."
"I just want to hold it," she said.
That sounded to me like a plea from a kid who really wants to own this game. So I suggested to my wife, Kay, and Rachel that we go to the store and just buy "Zelda."
Not that I understand the frenzy here. I'm so low-tech I can limbo under a gigabyte. I don't know "Zelda" from "Alice in Wonderland."
But I figure if a kid wants a $50 game bad enough to just "hold it," I could spring for that.
That's when I was told the game needed a $250 game system, something mysterious called a Wii.
Undaunted, I figured, what the heck, let's go for it. To make a kid happy, I can get out the checkbook.
So on Sunday afternoon, the three of us headed off to the store to buy "Zelda" and Wii, or so I thought.
We hit about half a dozen South Austin stores and couldn't find either the game or the system.
Seems like the miserable creeps at Nintendo, the video company that makes both the game and the system, had sent out just enough Wiis to create what is known as market interest.
When we left the house, Rachel was bubbly and happy. Heck, she even voluntarily cleaned her room, the biggest upset I'd seen since the Red Sox won the World Series.
But by the time we found out the Target on Ben White Boulevard had run out of Wiis, Rachel was in tears. I felt like a bag of ham.
They were out at Best Buy, too. The clerk told us that there was a guy lurking about the floor, offering to sell his Wii for $450 to distraught customers who couldn't find one. He suggested we track him down.
This attempt by the toy manufacturers to turn our children into emotional wrecks began in the '80s with the Cabbage Patch doll.
My idea of Cabbage Patch Doll aerobics would be to drag one behind a truck.
But American grandmothers didn't see it that way. Oh, no, the old birds loved this doll because their grandkids wanted one.
So the long gray line would form outside the store at 6 a.m. Then, when the doors sprung open at 7, these old women would beat each other over the head with their handbags to get their wrinkled fingers on a doll.
This tradition of rioting over polyurethane products continues today with video games. Last week, a man was shot while standing in line for a Sony PlayStation 3.
Sony ought to make an action game out of that: a bunch of cartoon shoppers in line waiting to buy toys while the bad guy on the screen guns them down for points.
Why can't you greedy buzzards at the game companies send out enough of your product to start with so we don't all go crazy? Or is that just too much to ask?
Friday, November 24, 2006
Buffalo News - Christian Coalition loses leader in dispute
God forbid that all the time and money put into this groups activities would actually go towards something Jesus preached about.
Buffalo News - Christian Coalition loses leader in dispute: "The Rev. Joel Hunter, of Northland, A Church Distributed, in Longwood, Fla., said he quit as president-elect of the group founded by evangelist Pat Robertson because he realized he would be unable to broaden the organization's agenda beyond opposing abortion and same-sex marriage.
He hoped to include issues such as easing poverty and saving the environment.
'These are issues that Jesus would want us to care about,' Hunter said."
Buffalo News - Christian Coalition loses leader in dispute: "The Rev. Joel Hunter, of Northland, A Church Distributed, in Longwood, Fla., said he quit as president-elect of the group founded by evangelist Pat Robertson because he realized he would be unable to broaden the organization's agenda beyond opposing abortion and same-sex marriage.
He hoped to include issues such as easing poverty and saving the environment.
'These are issues that Jesus would want us to care about,' Hunter said."
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Just in time for Thanksgiving: Top 10 Grossest Urban Legends Ever Told
The thankful part is that none of them are true.
Here is one example. Interestingly enough, there was a link to McDonalds on the page below.
(Originally published 12/06/00)
This week's most frequently asked question: "Is the chicken head story true?"
This week's most frequently given answer: Apparently so. Let's see what develops.
What's the chicken head story, you ask? Here's the gist of it, as first reported in the Newport News, Virginia Daily Press on November 30, 2000:
On the night of November 27, Mrs. Katherine Ortega bought a box of fried chicken wings at a local McDonald's restaurant and took it home to her family. While dishing it up to feed her children, Ortega noticed that one of the pieces looked, well ... funny. Examining it more closely, she saw it had eyes and a beak.
It sounds like an urban legend, sure enough, which is why some people have expressed skepticism. The story has earned column inches in newspapers all across the United States -- even finding its way into the esteemed Washington Post -- but who trusts the media to give us the facts anymore?
Plus, parts of the story beg for further explanation. Why did Ortega go straight to a local TV station with her find, while refusing to allow the owner of the accused restaurant to examine it? How did a chicken head find its way into box of wings in the first place?
USDA inspected ... NOT?
"I've never heard of anything like it," a USDA officer told the Daily Press. He was also quick to say he's not dismissing Ortega's claims.
From a poultry processing standpoint, there are two reasons why the incident seems unlikely. One, the very first step of the process -- even before de-feathering -- is beheading. And the heads are always discarded then and there. Two, the presence of unwanted parts ought to have been detected during later steps in the processing: the evisceration, which requires the active participation of a human operator, and the bird-by-bird inspection that's supposed to be conducted by an onsite USDA employee.
If the story is true, one obvious explanation could be pranksterism, a possibility investigators have so far neither accepted nor rejected.
Grist for the rumor mill
Meanwhile, Ortega's story is undergoing another kind of processing as it grinds its way through the rumor mill on the way to becoming an urban legend. As often as not, legends are inspired by real-life events, departing gradually from the facts as the story is told and retold and takes on a life independent of the original inspiration. Once upon a time, when rumors and legends were primarily transmitted by word of mouth, this could take months or years, but in the Internet age it can happen overnight. For example, one of the texts now circulating with a photo of the chicken head fround in Newport News claims the object was discovered "by a woman in her Chicken Nuggets in Portland, Oregon."
Whether it proves to be true, false, or in-between, Ortega's story has the makings of a classic urban legend in the mold of the "Kentucky Fried Rat." Folklorist Gary Alan Fine, who has probably written more about this genre than anyone else, observes that the victims in food contamination stories are always female. Why? Because one underlying theme of such tales is that modern mothers are endangering their families' well-being by forsaking the duties of their traditional role, such as preparing homecooked meals. The discovery of a rat, chicken head or what-have-you in a container of fast food, explains Fine, is punishment, in effect, for exposing one's family to the ravages of "amoral, profit-making corporations."
This moral message was clearly not lost on Mrs. Ortega, who expressed chagrin that her five-year-old could have bitten into the chicken head had she not encountered it first. "I will probably cook at home from now on," she told reporters.
Lesson learned, and duly passed along.
Here is one example. Interestingly enough, there was a link to McDonalds on the page below.
Woman Finds Fried Chicken Head in Box of McDonald's Wings
(Originally published 12/06/00)
This week's most frequently asked question: "Is the chicken head story true?"
This week's most frequently given answer: Apparently so. Let's see what develops.
What's the chicken head story, you ask? Here's the gist of it, as first reported in the Newport News, Virginia Daily Press on November 30, 2000:
On the night of November 27, Mrs. Katherine Ortega bought a box of fried chicken wings at a local McDonald's restaurant and took it home to her family. While dishing it up to feed her children, Ortega noticed that one of the pieces looked, well ... funny. Examining it more closely, she saw it had eyes and a beak.
It sounds like an urban legend, sure enough, which is why some people have expressed skepticism. The story has earned column inches in newspapers all across the United States -- even finding its way into the esteemed Washington Post -- but who trusts the media to give us the facts anymore?
Plus, parts of the story beg for further explanation. Why did Ortega go straight to a local TV station with her find, while refusing to allow the owner of the accused restaurant to examine it? How did a chicken head find its way into box of wings in the first place?
USDA inspected ... NOT?
"I've never heard of anything like it," a USDA officer told the Daily Press. He was also quick to say he's not dismissing Ortega's claims.
From a poultry processing standpoint, there are two reasons why the incident seems unlikely. One, the very first step of the process -- even before de-feathering -- is beheading. And the heads are always discarded then and there. Two, the presence of unwanted parts ought to have been detected during later steps in the processing: the evisceration, which requires the active participation of a human operator, and the bird-by-bird inspection that's supposed to be conducted by an onsite USDA employee.
If the story is true, one obvious explanation could be pranksterism, a possibility investigators have so far neither accepted nor rejected.
Grist for the rumor mill
Meanwhile, Ortega's story is undergoing another kind of processing as it grinds its way through the rumor mill on the way to becoming an urban legend. As often as not, legends are inspired by real-life events, departing gradually from the facts as the story is told and retold and takes on a life independent of the original inspiration. Once upon a time, when rumors and legends were primarily transmitted by word of mouth, this could take months or years, but in the Internet age it can happen overnight. For example, one of the texts now circulating with a photo of the chicken head fround in Newport News claims the object was discovered "by a woman in her Chicken Nuggets in Portland, Oregon."
Whether it proves to be true, false, or in-between, Ortega's story has the makings of a classic urban legend in the mold of the "Kentucky Fried Rat." Folklorist Gary Alan Fine, who has probably written more about this genre than anyone else, observes that the victims in food contamination stories are always female. Why? Because one underlying theme of such tales is that modern mothers are endangering their families' well-being by forsaking the duties of their traditional role, such as preparing homecooked meals. The discovery of a rat, chicken head or what-have-you in a container of fast food, explains Fine, is punishment, in effect, for exposing one's family to the ravages of "amoral, profit-making corporations."
This moral message was clearly not lost on Mrs. Ortega, who expressed chagrin that her five-year-old could have bitten into the chicken head had she not encountered it first. "I will probably cook at home from now on," she told reporters.
Lesson learned, and duly passed along.
Play Station 3
I have been following all the hype about the new game box from Sony. So has John, he made Barbara go to several stores yesterday looking to see if they had one available or not. Of course they don't, and even if they did, I don't think we are going to pop $500+ for one.
Click here to see a video of folks lining up, some for over 40 hours, to get their hands on a PS3.
Which brought to mind something that happened when John was maybe four or so. We were at Best Buy and he saw a game box he wanted but we were not going to buy for him. So he just picked up the box (like we wouldn't notice) and said 'go home' or something like that.
I am sure that John will continue to want a PS3 regardless, so it will be an interesting several months. Russell on the other hand wants Santa to bring him the much more affordable Nintedo Wii, which will probably be difficult to find.
Time Magazine had the following to say about the PS3.
Click here to see a video of folks lining up, some for over 40 hours, to get their hands on a PS3.
Which brought to mind something that happened when John was maybe four or so. We were at Best Buy and he saw a game box he wanted but we were not going to buy for him. So he just picked up the box (like we wouldn't notice) and said 'go home' or something like that.
I am sure that John will continue to want a PS3 regardless, so it will be an interesting several months. Russell on the other hand wants Santa to bring him the much more affordable Nintedo Wii, which will probably be difficult to find.
Time Magazine had the following to say about the PS3.
Look at what you get. The Playstation 3 is expensive: $500 or $600 bucks, depending on which version you buy, plus $60 for each game. (An Xbox 360 only costs $400 max, and Nintendo's Wii — yep, that name, still funny — is only $250.) For that kind of scratch you want the deluxe treatment, and the PS3 simply doesn't deliver it. It's got some good-looking games, but unless you have a top-notch TV, the difference isn't mind-blowing. (And even if you do have a fancy TV, Sony makes you supply your own HDMI cable. Stingy.) And Sony's launch line-up just isn't that interesting. Almost all the PS3's outstanding games — F.E.A.R., Madden NFL '07, Need for Speed: Carbon, Call of Duty 3 — are available on the Xbox 360, and most (all except F.E.A.R.) are out for the Wii, too. There just isn't the leverage there to make buying a PS3 de rigeur.
Friday, November 17, 2006
This American Life available as a Podcast
This is a big deal (at least to me). TAL is a big favorite of mine but I almost never get a chance to hear it. Up until now it is something you have to pay to download to your MP3 player but now they are offering the podcast for free for one one week only after the broadcast.
Will be interesting to see if ITunes automatically deletes the previous weeks episode from my hard drive or not.
Will be interesting to see if ITunes automatically deletes the previous weeks episode from my hard drive or not.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Fox isn't the only "fair and balanced" one
Who needs Fox News when you've got CNN's Headline News?
In an interview this week with Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison, who was just elected as America's first-ever Muslim member of Congress, Headline News' Glenn Beck actually asked the following question:
"OK. No offense, and I know Muslims. I like Muslims. I've been to mosques. I really don't believe that Islam is a religion of evil. I -- you know, I think it's being hijacked, quite frankly. With that being said, you are a Democrat. You are saying, 'Let's cut and run.' And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' And I know you're not. I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way."
In an interview this week with Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison, who was just elected as America's first-ever Muslim member of Congress, Headline News' Glenn Beck actually asked the following question:
"OK. No offense, and I know Muslims. I like Muslims. I've been to mosques. I really don't believe that Islam is a religion of evil. I -- you know, I think it's being hijacked, quite frankly. With that being said, you are a Democrat. You are saying, 'Let's cut and run.' And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' And I know you're not. I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way."
Scared Into Being Christian?
I caught these letters to the editor in the latest issue of Newsweek Magazine. A few weeks previous they had run an article about so-called Christian Hell Houses. I am glad to see that I am not the only one to take offense.
I feel sick and sad after reading about Hell Houses in your Nov. 6 issue ("Visions of Hell"). As a small-town pastor, I cannot fathom why religious people, in the sweet name of Jesus, would drown out the truth of God's love with visions of blood and violence to frighten the searching and vulnerable into seeing God as persecutor rather than Savior. So often Christ's message is twisted into an ugly either/or formula based on human terms. Fortunately, God still brings life from death, and our salvation has more to do with his willingness than our worthiness.
Rev. Marie Duquette
Faith Lutheran Church
Baltimore, Ohio
What if next year's hell house dramas include a family-values senator beaten to death by five juveniles he enticed on the Internet, a pro-life fanatic sentenced to eternity in hell for murdering an abortion-clinic doctor and a televangelist who contracts syphilis from a male escort in the front seat of his car? It seems a shame to limit victims of the Devil to those the radical right sees as evil, while ignoring worthy candidates from its own ranks.
Philip D. Gross
Sonora, Calif.
Hell houses are nothing new to me. We had six here in Chattanooga just this year, and I wince in shame every time I hear about them. For every soul they might save, surely many more souls react with disgust and annoyance that whatever vague appeal Jesus Christ's example held has been doused in a "Carrie"-esque bloodbath. I'm left to pray that the one recent example of true Christ-like behavior—the Amish community and its inspirational response to horror and tragedy—is enough to overcome the embarrassments that are Hell Houses.
Billy Faires
Chattanooga, Tenn.
I feel sick and sad after reading about Hell Houses in your Nov. 6 issue ("Visions of Hell"). As a small-town pastor, I cannot fathom why religious people, in the sweet name of Jesus, would drown out the truth of God's love with visions of blood and violence to frighten the searching and vulnerable into seeing God as persecutor rather than Savior. So often Christ's message is twisted into an ugly either/or formula based on human terms. Fortunately, God still brings life from death, and our salvation has more to do with his willingness than our worthiness.
Rev. Marie Duquette
Faith Lutheran Church
Baltimore, Ohio
What if next year's hell house dramas include a family-values senator beaten to death by five juveniles he enticed on the Internet, a pro-life fanatic sentenced to eternity in hell for murdering an abortion-clinic doctor and a televangelist who contracts syphilis from a male escort in the front seat of his car? It seems a shame to limit victims of the Devil to those the radical right sees as evil, while ignoring worthy candidates from its own ranks.
Philip D. Gross
Sonora, Calif.
Hell houses are nothing new to me. We had six here in Chattanooga just this year, and I wince in shame every time I hear about them. For every soul they might save, surely many more souls react with disgust and annoyance that whatever vague appeal Jesus Christ's example held has been doused in a "Carrie"-esque bloodbath. I'm left to pray that the one recent example of true Christ-like behavior—the Amish community and its inspirational response to horror and tragedy—is enough to overcome the embarrassments that are Hell Houses.
Billy Faires
Chattanooga, Tenn.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Sioux City Journal: Local GOP chairman blasts own party
It is hard to feel sorry for the Republicans. There were using the so-called conservative Christians for years to get votes. Payback as they say, is a bitch.
Sioux City Journal: Local GOP chairman blasts own party: "A day after the Democratic sweep of the midterm elections, Woodbury County Republican Chairman Steve Salem had harsh words for his own party, lambasting the influence of the conservative Christian right wing.
Salem said he coined a new phase: 'You've heard of IslamaFascists -- I think we now have Christian fascists. What is the definition of a fascist? Not only do they want to beat you, but they want to destroy you in the process.'
Salem said 'if things keep going the way things are going locally and statewide, it is going to be more and more difficult for Republicans to recruit candidates. We have elements of the party who are moral absolutists, who take the approach that if you don't take my position every step of the way, not only will I not support you, but I will destroy you.'"
Sioux City Journal: Local GOP chairman blasts own party: "A day after the Democratic sweep of the midterm elections, Woodbury County Republican Chairman Steve Salem had harsh words for his own party, lambasting the influence of the conservative Christian right wing.
Salem said he coined a new phase: 'You've heard of IslamaFascists -- I think we now have Christian fascists. What is the definition of a fascist? Not only do they want to beat you, but they want to destroy you in the process.'
Salem said 'if things keep going the way things are going locally and statewide, it is going to be more and more difficult for Republicans to recruit candidates. We have elements of the party who are moral absolutists, who take the approach that if you don't take my position every step of the way, not only will I not support you, but I will destroy you.'"
War Room - Salon.com
War Room - Salon.com:
I'm a majority leader 4 U
Is it proof that the Democrats have their fingers on the pulse of the American people -- or just the strangest thing any man has ever said on the day of the election that made him the next Senate majority leader? From Mark Leibovich's profile of Harry Reid in today's New York Times: "'Britney Spears,' Mr. Reid said, shaking his head. 'She loses a little weight, and now she's getting all cocky about things ... Britney has gotten her mojo back.'"
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Is Joe Lieberman still a Democrat? - By Daniel Engber - Slate Magazine
This has been a hot topic in the office today...
Is Joe Lieberman still a Democrat? - By Daniel Engber - Slate Magazine: "What will happen to the Senate if he gets re-elected."
Is Joe Lieberman still a Democrat? - By Daniel Engber - Slate Magazine: "What will happen to the Senate if he gets re-elected."
Monday, November 06, 2006
Sunday, November 05, 2006
College Urging Use Of Euthanasia For Sick Newborns | Health
Not a good week for newborns, in the US or the UK.
College Urging Use Of Euthanasia For Sick Newborns | Health: "Doctors should consider euthanasizing the sickest newborns which can disable healthy families.
The Sunday Times newspaper reported on the proposal made by Britain's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology."
College Urging Use Of Euthanasia For Sick Newborns | Health: "Doctors should consider euthanasizing the sickest newborns which can disable healthy families.
The Sunday Times newspaper reported on the proposal made by Britain's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology."
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
"Emily Post might not approve, but I believe in sending replies to everyone who 'warns' me about something that's actually a hoax. When I get an email telling me Walt Disney wants to make me rich, I believe the person who thoughtlessly passed that email to me should be told three things: first, that it's a hoax; second, that Walt Disney has been dead for 40 years; and, third, that a mind is a terrible thing to waste." -- Al Fasoldt, columnist
Saturday, November 04, 2006
So, Does This Go Under Compassionate Conservatism or Christian Values?
No easy answers to this one. We all want better lives for our children of course.
Newborns must now apply for Medicaid
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Under new federal regulations, children born to undocumented mothers in the United States must apply separately for Medicaid.
Under the previous policy, all children whose mothers received emergency Medicaid coverage for the delivery were automatically entitled to insurance for their first year. The new policy would require that parents prove the newborn is a U.S. citizen, The New York Times reported.
All children born in the United States are automatically eligible for citizenship. But doctors and state welfare officials say many undocumented parents would be afraid to submit applications.
"The federal government told us we have no latitude," said Marilyn Wilson of the Tennessee Medicaid Program. "All states must change their policies and practices. We will not be able to cover any services for the newborn until a Medicaid application is filed. That could be days, weeks or months after the child is born."
Federal officials say the Deficit Reduction Act, which included tighter requirements for Medicaid applications, made the change necessary.
Newborns must now apply for Medicaid
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Under new federal regulations, children born to undocumented mothers in the United States must apply separately for Medicaid.
Under the previous policy, all children whose mothers received emergency Medicaid coverage for the delivery were automatically entitled to insurance for their first year. The new policy would require that parents prove the newborn is a U.S. citizen, The New York Times reported.
All children born in the United States are automatically eligible for citizenship. But doctors and state welfare officials say many undocumented parents would be afraid to submit applications.
"The federal government told us we have no latitude," said Marilyn Wilson of the Tennessee Medicaid Program. "All states must change their policies and practices. We will not be able to cover any services for the newborn until a Medicaid application is filed. That could be days, weeks or months after the child is born."
Federal officials say the Deficit Reduction Act, which included tighter requirements for Medicaid applications, made the change necessary.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Balloon Juice
Interesting blog from a man who went from being a Republican true believer.
Balloon Juice: "I don’t know when things went south with this party (literally and figuratively- and I am sure commenters here will tell me the party has always been this bad- I disagree with that, and so do others), but for me, Terri Schiavo was the real eye-opener. Sure, the Prescription Drug Plan was hideous and still gets my blood pressure pumping, and the awful bankruptcy bill was equally bad, and there were other things that should have clued me in, but really, it was Schiavo that made me realize this party was not as advertized. And it is frustrating as hell.
What makes this even more frustrating is that not only do I feel like I have been duped, but I established a lot of friends in the right wing of the blogging community- and now I read their pages and I can’t believe what I am reading, even though I know that five years ago I probably would have been saying the same or similar things. I know many of them as people- and not just GOP parrots- having spent time working on collaborative projects with them, serving on the editorial board at Red State, appearing on radio shows with them- you name it. I have, at one point in time, defended many of them from what I perceived to be unfair attacks. So I know that by and large they are not bad people (Dan Riehl is an unmitigated asshole, however). Yet I read their pages now, and through my eyes,"
Balloon Juice: "I don’t know when things went south with this party (literally and figuratively- and I am sure commenters here will tell me the party has always been this bad- I disagree with that, and so do others), but for me, Terri Schiavo was the real eye-opener. Sure, the Prescription Drug Plan was hideous and still gets my blood pressure pumping, and the awful bankruptcy bill was equally bad, and there were other things that should have clued me in, but really, it was Schiavo that made me realize this party was not as advertized. And it is frustrating as hell.
What makes this even more frustrating is that not only do I feel like I have been duped, but I established a lot of friends in the right wing of the blogging community- and now I read their pages and I can’t believe what I am reading, even though I know that five years ago I probably would have been saying the same or similar things. I know many of them as people- and not just GOP parrots- having spent time working on collaborative projects with them, serving on the editorial board at Red State, appearing on radio shows with them- you name it. I have, at one point in time, defended many of them from what I perceived to be unfair attacks. So I know that by and large they are not bad people (Dan Riehl is an unmitigated asshole, however). Yet I read their pages now, and through my eyes,"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)